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06/30/1999 Archived Entry: "The Frustrated Bartender"

The weather has been so steamy lately, I can’t think of eating; only drinking. (And heat stroke makes me a liar.)

I am loving iced tea this summer, which is something new for me. I used to be a die-hard coffee drinker. (No, I do not have a favorite brand of iced tea. I make my own, cold-brewed, which never clouds: Combine tea and water in a clear glass pitcher, put it on a sunny windowsill, if there is one, and let it sit and brew for hours.) You have to drink a ton of water and seltzer in this weather, too.

Then there are all those refreshing alcoholic drinks that I indulge in during the summer. Apparently I am not alone in this. I’ve gotten several requests for cocktail recipes: The Cosmopolitan and the Metropolitan, Negroni, Caipirinha, Mojito, and Bellini. If don’t want to read, and you just want to drink, scroll down to the bottom of this entry and you’ll find some of them. I’m a classic Martini and Scotch whisky man most of the year (and don’t put down blended Scotch in front of me – you’ll get an earful), but I’m also a frustrated bartender. I love the opportunity to mix a drink and tell a story.

The Cosmopolitan was the drink of the summer several years ago. It seemed to come along so suddenly and so nationally that I thought it must have been invented by the Absolut vodka people to promote their product, Absolut Citron, the seemingly essential ingredient that had recently been introduced. Now I learn from Gary Regan, author of “The Bartender’s Bible” and “New Classic Cocktails” that its origins are a mystery. Legend has it that a bartender named Cheryl Cook created it in Miami, but Cheryl Cook has never come forward to claim it or been located, even through Internet searches. The Cosmopolitan is vodka, Cointreau (an orange liqueur), cranberry juice, and lime juice, served in a martini glass.

You might say the Metropolitan is the sequel to the Cosmopolitan. It substitutes Absolut Kurant for the Citron, and is also served in a martini glass. At least that is how most bartenders make it. It has evolved into that. The original recipe was somewhat different, however. It was created by Chuck Coggins at a downtown New York haunt called Marion’s, that had had it’s heyday in the 1950s, then was reopened in 1990. It still thrives as a retro martini lounge and funky neighborhood hangout. The way Chuck tells it, in Gary Regan’s “New Classic Cocktails,” Absolut Kurant had just been introduced and “he added some extra ingredients.” These include Rose’s lime juice (which is sweetened), fresh lime juice, cranberry juice, and a lime wedge, but no Cointreau.

This year, the Caipirinha (Cai-purr-EEN-yuh), the national drink of Brazil, has made a comeback. It first hit New York in the early 1980s, a by-product of the city’s interest in Brazilian fusion music. It’s cachaca (cuh-SHA-suh), a harsh spirit distilled from raw sugar cane (as opposed to rum, which is distilled from molasses), poured over whole limes that have been muddled with sugar. If it refreshes in the Amazon, and it works in steamy New York.

Both my Brazilian and Cuban friends will get down on me for saying this, but Mojitos are sort of the Cuban version of the Caipirinha: rum with fresh mint muddled with sugar, lime juice, a splash of soda. Make sure there’s a sprig of mint to smell as you drink.

I love the word muddled, not to mention the activity. I even own muddlers, which I have collected, along with swizzle sticks, for many years. (I told you I was a frustrated bartender.) Muddlers are the drink equivalent of a pestle. They are like swizzle sticks but have blunt ends so you can crush sugar with … with whatever. However, it is not necessary to have a muddler to muddle. Use the back of a sturdy spoon. Or the pestle that comes with a mortar.

The Bellini was the rage in New York in the mid 1980s, even though one of the essential ingredients, Prosecco, a fruity sparkling wine from the Veneto, the region around Venice, in Italy, wasn’t even available then. Now it is. And it is inexpensive. The Bellini was invented at Harry’s Bar in Venice (which is the original Harry’s Bar, owned by the Cipriani family), in the 1930s. The drink didn’t gets its name until 1948, when Arrigo Cipriani, who was better at public relations than his descendants who now run the Rainbow Room in New York, used it to cash in on an exhibition the fifteenth century painter Giovanni Bellini. It is a puree of white peach pulp topped off with Prosecco, served in a Champagne flute. Excuse me for knowing this, but I remember that at Harry’s the best time to get a Bellini was just before lunch, when the peach puree was fresh and pink. By the afternoon, it was browning with oxidation. At home, use chilled commercial peach nectar or use any fresh peaches and peel them and puree them in the blender with a bit of lemon juice to keep them white.

By far my favorite cocktail, however, is the potent Negroni. In the 1961 movie “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone,” Lotte Lenya drinks Negronis, an appropriately dark-sounding cocktail for a character who arranges the meeting of the aging actress played by Vivien Leigh and the young gigolo played by Warren Beatty. Both Lotte Lenya and the word Negroni certainly made an impression on the teenage me, and the association between the drink and the movie motivates me still to order a Negroni whenever I want to fantasize that I am living the decadent dolce vita..

The story of the Negroni is very prosaic, however; neither romantic nor decadent. You might call it a grassroots cocktail, in that it was created by a drinker, not a bartender, as most cocktails are. In 1925, the most fashionable drink in Florence was the Americano -- a residual of Europe’s pro-American feelings after World War I. An Americano is half sweet vermouth and half Campari with a generous splash of soda. (Without the soda, it’s called a French Kiss.)

At the time, there was a Florentine gentleman named Count Camillo Negroni who frequented the bar at the Hotel Baglioni on the still-fashionable Via Tornabuoni. Everyday the stylish Count would meet his friends and order an Americano -- but with a difference -- with a splash of gin.

Soon, the Count’s friends, wanting to be as stylish as he, started ordering their Americanos “the Negroni way.” Somehow the drink got perpetuated without the soda and what we’re left with is the Campari, the vermouth and the gin.


The Negroni

In an old-fashioned glass filled with ice, stir together 1 part gin, 1 part Campari and 1 part sweet vermouth -- the exact amount is up to you. Serve with a twist of lemon -- or orange if you prefer.
These proportions can, of course, be changed to suit your taste, and there is a bastard version of the Negroni, called a Light Negroni, for those who like their cocktails less sweet: Substitute dry white vermouth for the sweet red.


The Bellini

Either peel, pit, and puree fresh, ripe peaches (yellow are fine, but white are the original), or use canned peach nectar. To either, add drops of lemon juice to sharpen the flavor.
Fill a champagne flute about 1/4 full with peach nectar, then gently fill the glass to nearly the top with Prosecco.


The Cosmpolitan

Fill a mixing glass, cocktail shaker or pitcher two thirds full with ice cubes. Add 2 parts citrus-flavored vodka, 1 part Cointreau, 1 part cranberry juice, and 1/2 part lime juice. Stir well and pour into martini glasses.

The Metropolitan

Follow the recipe for The Cosmopolitan, substituting Absolut Kurant